MATLAB Cheat Sheet

Based off of Learn X in Y Minutes.

MATLAB stands for MATrix LABoratory. It is a powerful numerical computing language commonly used in engineering and mathematics.

Quick Access Links

1. Basics
   1. Comments and Code Sections
   2. Helper Commands
   3. Variables and Expressions
2. Matrices and Vectors
   1. Declarations
   2. Splicing and Dicing
   3. Arithmetic and Operations
3. Plots
4. Functions and Scripts
5. Programming Logic
6. Math/Engineering
   1. Common Math Functions
   2. Transfer Functions
7. Vectorization
8. Optimization
9. Machine Learning
10. Simulink

1. Basics

i. Comments and Code Sections

%% Code sections start with two percent signs. Section titles go on the same line.
% Comments start with a percent sign.

%{
Multi line comments look
something
like
this
%}

% Two percent signs denote the start of a new code section
% Individual code sections can be run by moving the cursor to the section followed by
% either clicking the "Run Section" button
% or     using Ctrl+Shift+Enter (Windows) or Cmd+Shift+Return (OS X)

%% This is the start of a code section
%  One way of using sections is to separate expensive but unchanging start-up code like loading data
load myFile.mat y

%% This is another code section
%  This section can be edited and run repeatedly on its own, and is helpful for exploratory programming and demos
A = A * 2;
plot(A);

% commands can span multiple lines, using '...':
 a = 1 + 2 + ...
 + 4

ii. Helper Commands

% commands can be passed to the operating system
!ping google.com

who % Displays all variables in memory
whos % Displays all variables in memory, with their types
clear % Erases all your variables from memory
clear('A') % Erases a particular variable
openvar('A') % Open variable in variable editor

clc % Erases the writing on your Command Window
diary % Toggle writing Command Window text to file
ctrl-c % Abort current computation

close all % Closes all figures

edit('myfunction.m') % Open function/script in editor
type('myfunction.m') % Print the source of function/script to Command Window

profile on  % turns on the code profiler
profile off     % turns off the code profiler
profile viewer  % Open profiler

help command    % Displays documentation for command in Command Window
doc command     % Displays documentation for command in Help Window
lookfor command % Searches for command in the first commented line of all functions
lookfor command -all % searches for command in all functions


% Output formatting
format short    % 4 decimals in a floating number
format long     % 15 decimals
format bank     % only two digits after decimal point - for financial calculations
fprintf('text') % print "text" to the screen
disp('text')    % print "text" to the screen

% pressing the up key shows you a history of previous commands

iii. Variables and Expressions

% Variables & Expressions
myVariable = 4  % Notice Workspace pane shows newly created variable
myVariable = 4; % Semi colon suppresses output to the Command Window
4 + 6       % ans = 10
8 * myVariable  % ans = 32
2 ^ 3       % ans = 8
a = 2; b = 3;
c = exp(a)*sin(pi/2) % c = 7.3891

% Logicals
1 > 5 % ans = 0
10 >= 10 % ans = 1
3 ~= 4 % Not equal to -> ans = 1
3 == 3 % equal to -> ans = 1
3 > 1 && 4 > 1 % AND -> ans = 1
3 > 1 || 4 > 1 % OR -> ans = 1
~1 % NOT -> ans = 0

% Logicals can be applied to matrices:
A > 5
% for each element, if condition is true, that element is 1 in returned matrix
A( A > 5 )
% returns a vector containing the elements in A for which condition is true

% Strings
a = 'MyString'
length(a) % ans = 8
a(2) % ans = y
[a,a] % ans = MyStringMyString


% Cells
a = {'one', 'two', 'three'}
a(1) % ans = 'one' - returns a cell
char(a(1)) % ans = one - returns a string

% Structures
A.b = {'one','two'};
A.c = [1 2];
A.d.e = false;

% Variables can be saved to .mat files
save('myFileName.mat') % Save the variables in your Workspace
load('myFileName.mat') % Load saved variables into Workspace

2. Matrices and Vectors

IMPORTANT: Indices in Matlab start at 1, not 0

i. Declarations

% Vectors
x = [4 32 53 7 1]
x(2) % ans = 32
x(2:3) % ans = 32 53
x(2:end) % ans = 32 53 7 1

x = [4; 32; 53; 7; 1] % Column vector

x = [1:10] % x = 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
x = [1:2:10] % Increment by 2, i.e. x = 1 3 5 7 9

% Matrices
A = [1 2 3; 4 5 6; 7 8 9]
% Rows are separated by a semicolon; elements are separated with space or comma
% A =

%     1     2     3
%     4     5     6
%     7     8     9

A(2,3) % ans = 6, A(row, column)
A(6) % ans = 8
% (implicitly concatenates columns into vector, then indexes into that)


A(2,3) = 42 % Update row 2 col 3 with 42
% A =

%     1     2     3
%     4     5     42
%     7     8     9

ii. Splicing and Dicing

A(2:3,2:3) % Creates a new matrix from the old one
%ans =

%     5     42
%     8     9

A(:,1) % All rows in column 1
%ans =

%     1
%     4
%     7

A(1,:) % All columns in row 1
%ans =

%     1     2     3

[A ; A] % Concatenation of matrices (vertically)
%ans =

%     1     2     3
%     4     5    42
%     7     8     9
%     1     2     3
%     4     5    42
%     7     8     9

% this is the same as
vertcat(A,A);


[A , A] % Concatenation of matrices (horizontally)

%ans =

%     1     2     3     1     2     3
%     4     5    42     4     5    42
%     7     8     9     7     8     9

% this is the same as
horzcat(A,A);


A(:, [3 1 2]) % Rearrange the columns of original matrix
%ans =

%     3     1     2
%    42     4     5
%     9     7     8

A(1, :) =[] % Delete the first row of the matrix
A(:, 1) =[] % Delete the first column of the matrix

squeeze(A); % Removes singular dimensions ie. 2x1x3 -> 2x3

iii. Arithmetic and Operations

transpose(A) % Transpose the matrix, which is the same as:
A one

A' % Concise version of complex transpose
A.' % Concise version of transpose (without taking complex conjugate)

size(A) % ans = 3 3

% Element by Element Arithmetic vs. Matrix Arithmetic
% On their own, the arithmetic operators act on whole matrices. When preceded
% by a period, they act on each element instead. For example:
A * B % Matrix multiplication
A .* B % Multiple each element in A by its corresponding element in B

% There are several pairs of functions, where one acts on each element, and
% the other (whose name ends in m) acts on the whole matrix.
exp(A) % exponentiate each element
expm(A) % calculate the matrix exponential
sqrt(A) % take the square root of each element
sqrtm(A) %  find the matrix whose square is A

% Solving matrix equations (if no solution, returns a least squares solution)
% The \ and / operators are equivalent to the functions mldivide and mrdivide
x=A\b % Solves Ax=b. Faster and more numerically accurate than using inv(A)*b.
x=b/A % Solves xA=b

inv(A) % calculate the inverse matrix
pinv(A) % calculate the pseudo-inverse

% Common matrix functions
zeros(m,n) % m x n matrix of 0's
ones(m,n) % m x n matrix of 1's
diag(A) % Extracts the diagonal elements of a matrix A
diag(x) % Construct a matrix with diagonal elements listed in x, and zeroes elsewhere
eye(m,n) % Identity matrix
linspace(x1, x2, n) % Return n equally spaced points, with min x1 and max x2
inv(A) % Inverse of matrix A
det(A) % Determinant of A
eig(A) % Eigenvalues and eigenvectors of A
trace(A) % Trace of matrix - equivalent to sum(diag(A))
isempty(A) % Tests if array is empty
all(A) % Tests if all elements are nonzero or true
any(A) % Tests if any elements are nonzero or true
isequal(A, B) % Tests equality of two arrays
numel(A) % Number of elements in matrix
triu(x) % Returns the upper triangular part of x
tril(x) % Returns the lower triangular part of x
cross(A,B) %  Returns the cross product of the vectors A and B
dot(A,B) % Returns scalar product of two vectors (must have the same length)
transpose(A) % Returns the transpose of A
fliplr(A) % Flip matrix left to right
flipud(A) % Flip matrix up to down

% Matrix Factorisations
[L, U, P] = lu(A) % LU decomposition: PA = LU,L is lower triangular, U is upper triangular, P is permutation matrix
[P, D] = eig(A) % eigen-decomposition: AP = PD, P's columns are eigenvectors and D's diagonals are eigenvalues
[U,S,V] = svd(X) % SVD: XV = US, U and V are unitary matrices, S has non-negative diagonal elements in decreasing order
[Q, R] = qr(A) % if A is mxn, Q is mxm and R is mxn upper triangular

% Common vector functions
max     % largest component
min     % smallest component
length  % length of a vector
sort    % sort in ascending order
sum     % sum of elements
prod    % product of elements
mode    % modal value
median  % median value
mean    % mean value
std     % standard deviation
perms(x) % list all permutations of elements of x
find(x) % Finds all non-zero elements of x and returns their indexes, can use comparison operators, 
        % i.e. find( x == 3 ) returns indexes of elements that are equal to 3
        % i.e. find( x >= 3 ) returns indexes of elements greater than or equal to 3

3. Plots

% Plotting
x = 0:.10:2*pi; % Creates a vector that starts at 0 and ends at 2*pi with increments of .1
y = sin(x);
plot(x,y)
xlabel('x axis')
ylabel('y axis')
title('Plot of y = sin(x)')
axis([0 2*pi -1 1]) % x range from 0 to 2*pi, y range from -1 to 1

plot(x,y1,'-',x,y2,'--',x,y3,':') % For multiple functions on one plot
legend('Line 1 label', 'Line 2 label') % Label curves with a legend

% Alternative method to plot multiple functions in one plot.
% while 'hold' is on, commands add to existing graph rather than replacing it
plot(x, y)
hold on
plot(x, z)
hold off

loglog(x, y) % A log-log plot
semilogx(x, y) % A plot with logarithmic x-axis
semilogy(x, y) % A plot with logarithmic y-axis

fplot (@(x) x^2, [2,5]) % plot the function x^2 from x=2 to x=5

% Creates a meshgrid (2D grid) to calculate a function for every point in the grid
[X, Y] = meshgrid(x_min:step:x_max, y_min:step:y_max)

grid on % Show grid; turn off with 'grid off'
axis square % Makes the current axes region square
axis equal % Set aspect ratio so data units are the same in every direction

scatter(x, y); % Scatter-plot
hist(x); % Histogram
stem(x); % Plot values as stems, useful for displaying discrete data
bar(x); % Plot bar graph

z = sin(x);
plot3(x,y,z); % 3D line plot

pcolor(A) % Heat-map of matrix: plot as grid of rectangles, coloured by value
contour(A) % Contour plot of matrix
contourf(A) % Filled contour plot of matrix
mesh(A) % Plot as a mesh surface

h = figure % Create new figure object, with handle h
figure(h) % Makes the figure corresponding to handle h the current figure
close(h) % close figure with handle h
close all % close all open figure windows
close % close current figure window

shg % bring an existing graphics window forward, or create new one if needed
clf clear % clear current figure window, and reset most figure properties

% Properties can be set and changed through a figure handle.
% You can save a handle to a figure when you create it.
% The function get returns a handle to the current figure
h = plot(x, y); % you can save a handle to a figure when you create it
set(h, 'Color', 'r')
% 'y' yellow; 'm' magenta, 'c' cyan, 'r' red, 'g' green, 'b' blue, 'w' white, 'k' black
set(h, 'LineStyle', '--')
 % '--' is solid line, '---' dashed, ':' dotted, '-.' dash-dot, 'none' is no line
get(h, 'LineStyle')


% The function gca returns a handle to the axes for the current figure
set(gca, 'XDir', 'reverse'); % reverse the direction of the x-axis

% To create a figure that contains several axes in tiled positions, use subplot
subplot(2,3,1); % select the first position in a 2-by-3 grid of subplots
plot(x1); title('First Plot') % plot something in this position
subplot(2,3,2); % select second position in the grid
plot(x2); title('Second Plot') % plot something there

% Given
x1 = [-3:0.5:3];
x2 = x1;
y = randi(500, length(x1), length(x1));

% Show a 3-D plot
figure
subplot(2,1,1);
surf(x1,x2,y);
xlabel(’x_1’);
ylabel(’x_2’);

% Show contours
subplot(2,1,2);
contour(x1,x2,y);
xlabel(’x_{1}’);
ylabel(’x_{2}’);
axis equal

% Show a colour map
figure
imagesc(x1,x2,y)
xlabel(’x_{1}’);
ylabel(’x_{2}’);

4. Functions and Scripts

% Calling Functions
% Standard function syntax:
load('myFile.mat', 'y')
% Command syntax:
load myFile.mat y   % no parentheses, and spaces instead of commas

% Calling a function from a script
% [arguments out] = function_name(arguments in)
[V,D] = eig(A);
[~,D] = eig(A);  % if you only want D and not V

% To use functions or scripts, they must be on your path or current directory
path % displays current path
addpath /path/to/dir % add to path
rmpath /path/to/dir % remove from path
cd /path/to/move/into % change directory

% M-file Scripts
% A script file is an external file that contains a sequence of statements.
% They let you avoid repeatedly typing the same code in the Command Window
% Have .m extensions

% M-file Functions
% Like scripts, and have the same .m extension
% But can accept input arguments and return an output
% Also, they have their own workspace (ie. different variable scope).
% Function name should match file name (so save this example as double_input.m).
% 'help double_input.m' returns the comments under line beginning function
function output = double_input(x)
    %double_input(x) returns twice the value of x
    output = 2*x;
end
double_input(6) % ans = 12

% If you want to create a function without creating a new file you can use an
% anonymous function.
% Example that returns the square of it's input, assigned to the handle sqr:
sqr = @(x) x.^2;
sqr(10) % ans = 100
doc function_handle % find out more

5. Programming Logic

% User input
a = input('Enter the value: ')

% Stops execution of file and gives control to the keyboard: user can examine
% or change variables. Type 'return' to continue execution, or 'dbquit' to exit
keyboard

% Reading in data (also xlsread/importdata/imread for excel/CSV/image files)
fopen(filename)

% Output
disp(a) % Print out the value of variable a
disp('Hello World') % Print out a string
fprintf % Print to Command Window with more control

% Conditional statements (the parentheses are optional, but good style)
if (a > 15)
    disp('Greater than 15')
elseif (a == 23)
    disp('a is 23')
else
    disp('neither condition met')
end

% Looping
% NB. looping over elements of a vector/matrix is slow!
% Where possible, use functions that act on whole vector/matrix at once
for k = 1:5
    disp(k)
end

k = 0;
while (k < 5)
    k = k + 1;
end

% Timing code execution: 'toc' prints the time since 'tic' was called
tic
A = rand(1000);
A*A*A*A*A*A*A;
toc

6. Math/Engineering

i. Common Math Functions

sin(x)
cos(x)
tan(x)
asin(x)
acos(x)
atan(x)
exp(x)
sqrt(x)
log(x)
log10(x)
abs(x) %If x is complex, returns magnitude
min(x)
max(x)
ceil(x)
floor(x)
round(x)
rem(x)
rand % Uniformly distributed pseudorandom numbers
randi % Uniformly distributed pseudorandom integers
randn % Normally distributed pseudorandom numbers

%Complex math operations
abs(x)   % Magnitude of complex variable x
phase(x) % Phase (or angle) of complex variable x
real(x)  % Returns the real part of x (i.e returns a if x = a +jb)
imag(x)  % Returns the imaginary part of x (i.e returns b if x = a+jb)
conj(x)  % Returns the complex conjugate 


% Common constants
pi
NaN
inf

% Given a meshgrid X,Y and a function defined on the meshgrid like Gauss, interpolates the value of the function at the point u1,u2
interp2(X,Y,Gauss,u1,u2)

ii. Transfer Functions

% Transfer functions
s = tf('s');
G = s^2/(s^3 + 100*s^2 + 30*s + 50);

pole(G); % Returns the location(s) of the pole(s) in rad/s
zero(G); % Returns the location(s) of the zero(s) in rad/s
pzmap(G); % Plots the locations of both the pole(s) and zero(s)

bandwidth(closed_loop_system); % Returns bandwidth of a closed loop transfer function in rad/s
bode(closed_loop_system) % Creates bode plot of system
rlocus(closed_loop_system) % Plots a root locus of the specified system

margin(open_loop_system); % Creates a bode plot, displaying the gain and phase margins of an open loop transfer function

7. Vectorization

Tips to vectorize your code to get rid of loops and make it run more efficiently.

8. Optimization

% fmincon

9. Machine Learning

10. Simulink

simulink % starts Simulink